Flying High
by xXNeoXx
Summary: I've always wondered what would happen if I tried to alter the MR series, starting just after Saving the World and Other Extreme Sprots. So, I started a fanfic to find out. I'll be "winging it" the whole way. What comes of this will be a surprise for all.
1. Chapter 1

**Before We Dive In. . .**

This fanfiction starts after the book _Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports_, after the Flock temporarily split up over the issue of Ari's joining them and Max's group (Max, Nudge, Angel, and Total) destroying Itex's headquarters in Germany. Fang's group (Fang, Gazzy, and Iggy) had been on the West cost of the USA, kicking Flyboy butt and rallying the troops (the readers of Fang's blog) to attack anything Itex. Which is exactly what happened.

Anyway, if you're reading this, you should know all the haps from _Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports_. If not, GO READ IT. I'm not big on rehashing.

Another important thing: I'm introducing my own original character into the plotline and most of this fanfiction will be from her point of view. Her name's Miri. The rest you'll learn soon enough.

Rated T for swearing and mild (according to me) violence. Nothing worse than High School, really, but I feel I must say that.

**Disclaimer:** If you recognize it, it's probably not mine. Remember that, b'cause I'm not in the mood to be chased by creepy business men in suits today. Or any other day, for that matter.

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**Prologue • Miri**

It was dark in my cell, as usual. They hated it when I could see, because then I had a better chance of attacking them. They always had on their night-vision goggles so they could come into the pitch-freaking-dark and stick me with something to make me sleep and, next thing I knew, I was strapped to a table in some sterile room, prodded with an electric prong to get me running on a treadmill, thrown into a rat maze with an oven-heated floor to keep me moving, or whatever other tortures they might be up for that particular day.

I was sitting quietly in the corner, knees against my chest, wings loose and hanging down on either side of me, just waiting for the door to open. It was that time of day again, I knew, but they were late. Why? Who knows. Maybe they were arguing over whether they wanted to toss me in with a bunch of those wolf-bird-robot-things or seal me in an airtight room and see how long it took for me to pass out from lack of oxygen. Either way, whatever was coming wasn't going to be fun.

Suddenly, the lights above me flickered to life, blinding me. I wrapped my auburn-colored wings around me, disappearing in my own dark, feathery world. I expected somebody to come in and want to examine my pupils or something, but nothing happened. I stayed as I was, waiting for pain.

Then, out in the hall, I could hear shouting and cursing. The loudest voice was recognizably female, and very much pissed. She spoke in more of a snarl than anything. "Let me out of this damn cage so I can _kill_ you, you white-coated _bastards_!"

_Not a very convincing argument_, I thought to myself. I realized the yelling was getting louder and I could hear the wheels of one of the carts they used to transport cages stop just outside of my cell. I did what I'd done before when one of them would come in: I dropped onto my side and draped a wing over my front, hiding and waiting, as always.

The sixteen bolts on my door were slid open quickly and precisely, then the door was pushed open. With a clang, a thud, and an angry shout, the door was closed again just as quickly. I heard banging on the door, hammering and angry as hell. Whoever had just been out in the hall telling off the lab people was now in my cell. I barely dared to breathe, not wanting to anger her further as she screamed wordlessly at the locked door.

I don't know how long it was, but the girl finally stopped slamming into the door and yelling at nothing. Time had never meant much to me in here anyways, but the last little while had been nerve-wracking, and I was guessing it had taken at least forty minutes for the girl to calm down. I decided to risk a peek from under my wing.

Wrong move. Just as I lifted my makeshift curtain, the girl swung around. If looks could kill, I would've died right then. The rage and hate contained in her eyes was horrible. But, as soon as I let my wing drop back down, I heard her call out, much more gently "Oh, I won't hurt you, whoever you are. You don't have to hide."

I made no move at all and, with a sigh, I heard the girl get up and walk over to me, plopping down about a foot away. I counted to ten and lifted my wing again. She wasn't watching me, exactly, but I knew she could tell what I was doing. Feeling somewhat safe, I took the time to give her a good once-over.

She was tall and skinny, but the muscular kind of skinny. Her hair was stained with mud and blood, but I could see some blond strands that weren't harmed. Her eyes, much softer and more friendly now, were medium brown and lively. She wore a ripped windbreaker, dirt-covered jeans, and a pair of beat-up sneakers. Overall, she looked like someone who had very recently gone through hell.

Once I reached the above conclusion, I decided that, since I wasn't dead yet, this girl wasn't planning on killing me. With that in mind, I sat up, letting my wings fall to the floor once again. "Who are you?" I asked, proud that my voice didn't crack, considering how terrified I was.

Her head whipped around in surprise. "I didn't think you'd be able to speak." She stated. "Good thing you can; might relieve some of the boredom of captivity." She held out a hand and said "The names Maximum Ride, but my friends call me Max."

I took Max's hand and shook it, controlling my shuddering to an absolute minimum. She noticed, but said nothing. "They call me 771M-649I-R170-5I24, but that's a little long." I told her, repeating my experiment number by heart. "There are only four letters in there though: M-I-R-I. So, I started calling myself Miri for short." I pronounced my self-given name like "eerie" with an "M" at the beginning.

Max let go of my hand. "Good enough for me." She jiggled her shoulders and her windbreaker fell off, exposing brown and white wings with black speckles. "As you can see, I'm quite a bit like you. Guess that's why they tossed me in here."

I couldn't help but stare at her wings. I'd never wings on any of the other experiments; I'd been thinking I was all alone in that sense. The only other winged things here were those robot guys, but they didn't count, since they weren't alive and all.

Max made herself comfortable, leaning back on the wall next to me. She was about to close her eyes, but then shot straight up as if she'd been stung. "How old are you?" she asked suddenly.

I cocked my head to the side, thinking. I'd heard the scientists mention my age a few times before. "I think I'm either fourteen or fifteen. You?"

She nodded. "The same." Max rubbed her arm, where I could see a large, blue-ish purple bruise laid across her skin. "How long've you been in this hell hole?"

I tilted my head to face the ceiling and let my eyes fall shut. "Forever." I whispered. "I've never been able to leave."

Max leapt back onto her feet, startling me, then stood in front of me, holding out her hand and motioning for me to stand. "Then we'll have to fix that, won't we?"

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This is the first fanfiction I've ever posted, so please tell me whatcha like, whatcha hate, and what I could do better. Reviews to me are like bacon to velociraptors: 100% AWESOME. Share the bacon-equal review love, people! And don't _actually_ try to feed the velociraptors. That's a good way to lose your. . .well, everything.

**~N~**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter One • Miri**

Call me stupid, but all I could do was stare dumbly at Max's outstretched hand. Was this just some joke of the scientists', trying to see what I would do in a situation where I believed that, even for a second, escape from this horrible place was a possibility?

I really, really hoped not, because I believed it.

I took Max's hand and she hauled me onto my feet next to her in my cell, facing the door. "I bet if the both of us cause enough of a scene, they'll come to separate us." She said confidently. "That's when we make a run for it."

Not the best escape plan I'd ever heard, but I wasn't about to offer a better one. "What kind of a scene?" I asked, completely on board.

"A fight." She said, looking quickly around the cell. "The we're-going-to-pretend-we-want-to-kill-each-other kind."

I knew how to fight; I'd been groomed to be a kickass warrior since I could walk. Pretending to fight couldn't be that much harder. "Alright." I said, clenching my fists in anticipation. "When—"

Before I could finish the question, Max threw a wild punch in my direction, her face having gone from calculating to killer in less than a millisecond. I ducked out of the way, going under her arm and behind her, managing to tilt my body and whap her in the head with my left wing. I was now completely in fight mode. Max spun quickly and we began to circle each other slowly, putting on a show for the security cameras. I lunged at her feet-first, aiming a kick into her chest. She leapt out of the way in record time, just as I thought she would. I was a good fighter, but Max obviously had more experience.

I rolled as I landed, getting out of the way with my back against the wall. I could hear running footsteps in the hall already, coming straight to us. I started to grin; Max's crazy plan was working and she hadn't even been in here for an hour! I quickly turned the excited expression into a grimace of determination.

Max feigned to the left, then shot a spinning kick my way from the right, which I dodged, cartwheeling out of the way and getting behind her again. I grabbed her wings and gave them a small yank, but made it look like I was giving it my all. Max cried out in imagined pain, keeping up the act by turning on me and throwing me to the ground. We rolled across the tile floor, kicking, punching, and biting with everything we had. Or so it seemed.

Then, miracle of all miracles, the door of the cell opened and we jumped off one another and at the small group of lab-coated fiends. I unleashed all I had on the first guy, using my nails to rip into the skin of his arm with one hand while punching him square in the face with the other. He dropped and I turned around in time to see Max deck another guy and then make a run for it down the empty hallway. I didn't need any encouragement to follow, so I took off running right after her, easily catching up. The white lab garment I was wearing helped, letting me fully stretch my legs with every stride.

Max turned and asked "Do you know how to fly?"

I wasn't even breaking a sweat with this mad sprint, but her question nearly made me stumble. "No! They never let me try!"

"Then I hope you're a fast learner!" she yelled, leaping into the air and spreading her wings wide. She flew straight through a large skylight, tucking in her wings at the last second before she went through and immediately pushing them back out again as soon as she was free.

I pumped my wings hard behind me and managed some lift, then gave another push that got me off the floor. My flapping was crazed and erratic, but I got high enough to grab onto the edge of the shattered skylight and pull myself onto the roof with my hands. The shattered glass cut sharply into my skin, but now wasn't the time to complain.

Max was hovering a few feet above the roof, waiting for me. I had the feeling she wasn't planning to wait for long, so I sprinted for it and jumped into the air for the second time in my life, only twenty seconds after the first.

"You're doing great!" Max called, flying higher into the air. I copied the way she worked her wings and managed to get close below her while she streaked through the sky towards anything that wasn't the place below us. I could hear shouts and alarms from the building, but didn't dare look down to see if anything was being sent after us.

Max flew ahead, but even I could tell that she was holding back so I could keep up. I was surprised that I was still airborne, considering this was my first real flight. I kept my eyes on Max's wings, watching how she worked them and copying the movements to stay aloft. "We gotta pick up speed!" Max yelled over the wind.

My eyes were starting to tear up, but I ignored it. "How do I do that?" I called back, looking down. In the lab, I could see lights flashing, horns were blaring, and people were scurrying around in crazed patterns, yelling at one another.

"Flap faster, keep your legs straight, and put your arms at your sides!" Max instructed. Immediately, she followed her own advice, rocketing over the electrified fence that surrounded the lab. I did as she said and shakily sped up, definitely going faster, just not as smoothly and easily as Max was. I pumped my wings up and down as hard and fast as I could, barely keeping up, but not falling behind either.

Max turned around to look behind us and I could see her eyes widen. Something was coming. "Flyboys!" she yelled, dropping back to get closer to me. I peeked around too and wished I hadn't: a cloud of those robot flying wolf-men was coming up fast. "Grab my hand!" Max yelled. I spun around to see that she'd come really close, flying just above me with her wings in sync with mine. I raised my arm to wrap my fingers around her wrist and suddenly we were blasting along like a jet plane.

Max yelled something else, but it was lost in the wind created by her speed. I had no idea what she was doing or how she was doing it, but one look behind us convinced me I didn't care. We had pulled away so far already I couldn't see the lab or the cloud of robotic doom that had been following us only three seconds ago. Whatever Max was doing, it was definitely helpful.

I don't know how long I was towed along in the air, but when Max finally slowed, the sun was just barely holding itself above the horizon. Max let go of my hand as she brought down her speed, so I had to remember to flap again fast. "Did we really just escape?" I asked, trying out the wonderful word on my tongue.

Max turned around to grin at me. "Yeah, we did." She looked tired from her crazy-turbo-speed-flight, but definitely happy.

I punched a fist in the air, which made me lose my balance and drop a few feet. "Whoa!" I yelped, thinking _Remember to flap. Remember to flap. Remember to flap. . ._

"I guess you meant it when you said you couldn't fly before," Max said casually. "But now's as good a time to learn as any, especially since you're in the air already. That's the hardest part."

I got myself back into the pattern of flapping and gave Max a skeptical look. "You sure about that?" I asked.

She laughed. "Not at all. But it sounded legit, right?" I just rolled my eyes and she got serious, going into instruction mode.

I won't get into a lot of detail, but Max gave me a crash course in flying until we lost the light. I say "crash course" because I did crash. Twice. Into trees. Which hurt. A lot. But, I got the basics down on flying, so it was totally worth the pain.

So, to sum up my situation, I was free, I could fly, and I had somebody who could show me the ropes. Life was looking up for me. Way up.

That was my last thought before the shooting started.

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Yes, I'm leaving you with a cliffy. *insert evil, muahahaha-type laughter here*

**~N~**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 • Max**

Three shots whizzed by my head and my immediate instinct was to shout "Evasive maneuvers!" But this Miri girl didn't know anything about that sort of flying. Heck, she barely knew anything about _any_ kind of flying. So, in this case, it would probably be best to get out of the sky and hide out somewhere.

"Aim down, but not too fast!" I shouted to her. "Got it?" She nodded, determined, and shot towards the ground at a semi-controlled speed. I followed as quickly as I could while looking over my shoulder to see our attacker.

Imagine my surprise when I saw a helicopter hovering a good bit behind us in the air. The rotors spun silently, which is how they'd been able to get close enough to shoot without me noticing. I took a moment to wonder how they'd managed that little improvement, then decided there would be a better time later to wonder. I folded my wings closer to my body and rocketed downward at free-fall speed, my only goal to get away from this mess and manage to get Miri away with me. She was an experiment, so we were more or less in the same boat. I felt as if I had some sort of civil duty to protect one of my own messed-up kind.

I caught up to Miri and pointed into a dense area of tall pines, altering my course to get there and watching as she copied my movements. The helicopter followed our movements, but I knew it would have to find a place to land before they could catch us and this was dense forestland. No chopper landing pads for miles around. Of course, if they had zip lines to get out of the chopper, we were in trouble, but I'd deal with that issue if it came up.

I'd lost Miri as soon as we entered the trees, but, since I didn't hear a crash or a scream, I assumed she was either still airborne or had already landed and was fine. A volley of shots sliced through the air around me, but hit only trees, thankfully. A similar thing happened off to my left and, when I turned, I saw a shadow maneuvering between the trees at the same speed as I was flying. That girl was learning fast. I briefly considered that she'd been lying about never having flown before, but then let it drop. I could be suspicious after I was sure I wasn't about to get shot.

I swerved, ducked, and doubled around until the shooting had been silent for ten minutes. That had to have been enough time for them to give up. Well, there was that, plus the fact that I might fall out of the air in the next few minutes. I'd used what Gazzy called my super-sonic speed earlier and then stayed in the air for about four hours since. I was beyond tired, so Miri must be even worse off, never having flown before today.

I looked around for Miri, but I hadn't been able to see her flying near me in a few minutes, so I took a guess and turned left, flying until I hit what I thought was about the middle of this pine forest. She might come by in a minute or so, looking for me.

I'd just landed when a set of auburn wings glided out of the trees above me and hovered quietly to my right. "Hey there." I said casually. "I take it you managed to avoid getting shot?"

Miri managed to touch down in front of me, landing on her feet rather than her face. "Seems so." she said, matching my tone. "What do we do now?"

I crossed my arms and tapped my chin for show. "We should probably head to Arizona," I said finally. "That's where the white-coats managed to shoot me down with one of those lovely little tranquilizers."

She asked the obvious question. "Where are we now?"

"A little north of Death Valley, California." I answered, looking up at the darkened sky.

Miri was quiet for a moment. "Well. . .that's ominous." She stated eventually.

"That it is." I nodded. "We need to be moving, but I really don't know how long it'll take for me to drop outta the sky, so we can stay here for the night. That okay with you?"

Miri stretched her arms up over her head. I gave her a quick once-over: too skinny, black hair, nearly-black eyes, auburn-colored wings, and a good bit of courage to be able to just go along with me without a second thought. She answered my question after her arms lowered back to her sides. "Fine by me. I'm ready to pass out."

I smiled, just a little, at how she'd copied my tone perfectly, once more. I thought I was going to like this girl. "Perfect. Pick a tree and we'll conk out for the night and get moving at first light."

Less than five minutes later, I was up a tree, watching Miri's already even breaths as she slept. I had to remind myself that, even though she seemed to be on my side, she could definitely be in league with the School.

I really hoped she wasn't though, because she was the only non-flock person/mutant I'd ever met that I could honestly say I wouldn't mind having for a friend. I remember crossing my fingers before I fell asleep.

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**Yes, it was short. This isn't my best work, but it'll have to do b'cause I'm not feeling so hot this week. Pollen kills me and I live in scenic Georgia where pollen targets every living creature in the vicinity from February to September. I promise I'll write a better and longer chapter next week, kaykay?**

**~N~**


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